If you've got fifty percent done and you haven't even
hit the timeskip yet
then Christ, yes, I really doubt you've missed anything. Thirty-two hours on the clock, one ending down and some way into a second playthrough (again, not wanting to spoil anything about that) and I've only got about fifty-five percent and
several uncompletable (I didn't bother hoovering up every last one).
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Having hit the point I was talking about, I'll give the details for people who are still playing through.
Avoiding story spoilers here, there is a specific point in the plot which signifies a change from one part of the story to another; once this happens, any sidequests except I think the fishing ones you have will become uncompletable, and any sidequests which you had yet to flag are lost. So if you are a completionist type or want to take advantage of the cash rewards some of these sidequests give you, you'll want to get them done before reaching this point.
Still no story spoilers, just locations and people, but this is the spot:
At one point you're sent to the mansion between the hub and the seaside town, which turns the game monochrome. After doing what happens there, you're supposed to go back to talk to Yonah; then you're sent to Popola in the library; then you head to the south gate of the town.
That last bit is basically the cutoff. To be safe I'd recommend doing any sidequests left right after finishing the mansion and before talking to people, or even before going there.
Yes and I think the game which directly follows the story of the first game, is the sequel and involves more characters and events from the first game is much more canon than a game that just says it is based on that ending.
Honestly, I'm ecstatic that Nier goes for the psycho ending. Drakengard 2 was a huge disappointment that--while it had slightly better gameplay than the first--lost the atmosphere, the charm, the music and pretty much every other aspect that made Drakengard great. Even the story was some typical teen superhero anime stuff, and that was the deepest cut of all.
Nier on the other hand is ten times the sequel to Drakengard the official sequel could ever hope to be.
Drakengard 2 was an inferior game, yes, but it should not be criticized for its soundtrack.
I went and picked this up shortly after I said I would the other day and have been largely addicted since. Its just such a greatly made game. Despite the graphics (which Ive never cared much about in games anyway) Im just having so much fun doing quests and fishing and leveling up. This game is fucking excellent. And the music is beautiful. I love it.
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
Got the second ending, on my way to the third and fourth. Might get a couple more trophies, but I can't be bothered with all of them; farming for drops to upgrade all the weapons to max is just flat-out boring after you've been through the Junk Heap about twenty, thirty times (Demon's Souls this ain't) and I haven't even touched fishing or gardening. Pointless busywork. Sidequests really start to drag after the halfway mark, too; the little extra bits of story are always welcome, but they're all idiotic shopping lists or fetch quests two or three stages longer than they ought to be.
Definitely the surprise of the year so far for me, but it's still a mess. And the second playthrough/ending wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be - didn't quite live up to what the start seemed to be hinting at.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
I picked this up yesterday thanks to this thread, and so far I'm not regretting it - I just got to the Junk Heap, and I'm really enjoying the atmosphere and the overall feel of the game. The task required to learn how to ride the boars took me far longer than it probably should have, but it did give me a chance to try out different approaches to combat.
SOMEONE FUCKING TELL ME HOW TO FISH BEFORE I KILL A NUN
GOD
This is an excruciatingly poorly designed mini-game.
Ok.
First, there are different fish based on different places, even on the same map; for example, Seaport has 3 different areas with different fish: the dock next to the ships, the small beach next to the old man who gives you the quests, and the big beach near the lighthouse.
There is an invisible "skill" level to your fishing which determines how easy it is to catch fish. When you start, most fish are going to be beyond your reach: if you are trying to reel in a fish and it's hp bar barely moves and it randomly gets away that fish requires a higher skill.
So lets say you're after Shaman Fish for the very first quest. They are only found on the big beach in Seaport, so you go over there and fish using the lure. Despite what the game says you never really have to press a button, just use the control stick. Once the rod bends sharply you press the stick down, towards you. Anything the rod does which isn't the sharp bend is a fakeout.
Once the fish is on the line, just watch Nier's position. The game doesn't make this very clear: you're supposed to tilt the stick opposite where the fish is, but Nier will bend in the proper direction automatically. So if he bends to the left, you tilt the stick to the left. The biggest thing is to make the tilt very small; if you start by holding the stick down and Nier goes left then you move the stick a very small amount to the left (while keeping the stick mostly down) until the fish's HP bar starts flashing again; watching the HP bar is the best way to see if you have the stick in the right spot.
If you want to catch more varieties of fish you need to do the old man's quests. The biggest difficulty in the first few is knowing where to go. Here's a list of the first few:
Q1: 10 Sardines, Seaport big beach, use Lugworms.
Q2: 7 Blowfish, Seaport small beach, use Lugworms. Sardines/Bream show up here too.
Q3: 7 Rainbow Trout, Northern Plains river near the bridge leading to the Junk Heap, use the Lure.
Q4: 5 Bream, Seaport dock, use the Lure. There's also a crazy hard fish that's here, you can't catch it.
Q5: 5 Black Bass, Hometown, use the Lure.
Why do you want to do these quests? Because Bream and Black Bass sell for 750 and 1500 respectively, giving you a modest cash source which doesn't require selling off materials that you might end up needing later for forging or sidequests (sell anything else and it will probably come back to burn you, sometime, somewhere). I was you, I hated it when I started too, but once you get it down it becomes a lot more managable.
Oh man, Drakengard arrived a few days ago. This game is pretty bad. Like I didn't think graphics could be this bad back in '04. Launch titles looked better than this. Still going to finish it before I play Nier though, which I should be picking up this week as it's going to go on sale. $45? Thank you K-mart.
Oh man, Drakengard arrived a few days ago. This game is pretty bad. Like I didn't think graphics could be this bad back in '04. Launch titles looked better than this. Still going to finish it before I play Nier though, which I should be picking up this week as it's going to go on sale. $45? Thank you K-mart.
Psh. Gilder man I thought I loved you Drakengard is a game I will always cherish. Ever since I first played it when it came out. Ive sunk so many hours into that beast....
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
I'm sure I'll love the crazy story, but man those graphics and music are not helping me to enjoy the game. Seriously, those graphics aren't even fit to have been on a dreamcast budget game. Cutscenes look nice though. It'll be a treat to see how far they've come when I jump from Drakengard to Nier.
I'm sure I'll love the crazy story, but man those graphics and music are not helping me to enjoy the game. Seriously, those graphics aren't even fit to have been on a dreamcast budget game. Cutscenes look nice though. It'll be a treat to see how far they've come when I jump from Drakengard to Nier.
Not a lot
And yeah the story is pretty damn whack. Like. Giant floating babies eating people whack. But dont worry. that doesnt spoil anything. Because it literally makes no sense. But seriously..
I know the graphics arnt great but I still love it. I just love games about A. Hunting down items and B. Constantly upgrading and seeing them get stronger and C. Cooler looking. Its just a game of so many treats with all the weapons.
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
I seem to recall getting the actual ending that's connected to Nier requires a massive time investment. Too much for me, anyway, and I even kinda liked the game at the time.
Cherrn on
All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai.
Can I simply ignore all the quests and optional stuff in the second half, beat the game and then come back on my second playthrough? I'd like to just go through the plot to see where the story is going before hunkering down for all the little sidequests.
Can I simply ignore all the quests and optional stuff in the second half, beat the game and then come back on my second playthrough? I'd like to just go through the plot to see where the story is going before hunkering down for all the little sidequests.
Hmmm, slow EDIT (didn't read your question properly):
I'm assuming then you know that loading your cleared save restarts you some way through the game. You do however start some way into part two - I can't think off the top of my head if there's anything you might be missing by doing that. You can definitely keep working at some of the achievements, so I'm assuming it still keeps track of the sidequests you finished in your first run through, but I don't know if there are any that can only be finished in the time between the jump and the point you restart on any second or subsequent playthroughs.
I'm sure I'll love the crazy story, but man those graphics and music are not helping me to enjoy the game.
Despite everything I've said about the game, I did actually... well, like is not entirely the word I want, but I have listened to the soundtrack by itself for atmosphere more than once. It's certainly tough going though.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Can I simply ignore all the quests and optional stuff in the second half, beat the game and then come back on my second playthrough? I'd like to just go through the plot to see where the story is going before hunkering down for all the little sidequests.
Having reached this point I can chime in:
NG+ starts you off right after the first "dungeon" in the second half, the underground facility. Other than that you'll have access to all the sidequests and stuff that you didn't complete from your first playthrough, although not all at once; you need to go through the story again to unlock them if that's what it took before. Basically, yeah, go for all plot your first go round if you want.
On a different subject, a question of my own: has anyone found out where you can get Rusty Kitchen Knives for forging weapons? I went through an entire playthrough and didn't see a single one, anywhere.
Moonrise better upgrade to a laser blade like the last couple cavia games.
Picked this up yesterday and managed to probably sell a few people on it with livestream, hah.
Really enjoyable. I was expecting horrible based on a few things were ranting about (fishing? shaman fish took me about 2 minutes, and you can just buy it for the quest ), but what I found was an enjoyable action RPG with fantastic voice acting, good writing, a (so-far) touching story, awe inspiring landscapes, and absolutely beautiful music. It's like, the gameplay and RPG elements are just icing on the cake of beautiful, for me.
Picked this up yesterday and managed to probably sell a few people on it with livestream, hah.
Really enjoyable. I was expecting horrible based on a few things were ranting about (fishing? shaman fish took me about 2 minutes, and you can just buy it for the quest ), but what I found was an enjoyable action RPG with fantastic voice acting, good writing, a (so-far) touching story, awe inspiring landscapes, and absolutely beautiful music. It's like, the gameplay and RPG elements are just icing on the cake of beautiful, for me.
I fully agree. I just got past the forest and damn was that funny and awesome at the same time. It was such a huh? Wait? What? Whats going on? Ooooooohhhh and then just laughs. I love it.
Also I have 51% complete for quests. I think thats it until the changing point. (which I dont know when it is but even so I assume thats a good number.)
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
Final boss isn't Touhou/danmaku (that the word?) or anything, but still fairly tough. Even when you're wildly over-levelled and buffed he can still do some nasty damage to you if you're not paying attention. General impressions from NeoGAF and GameFAQs et al suggest hard is really hard, and if I ever get round to trying it I shall not be eager to take him on at that level.
And for anyone as impressed by the story as I am (not perfect, but far, far better than I was expecting), I say again, for the love of God go for a second playthrough/new game+ at least once. I'm pretty confident you will be glad you did.
EDIT: And that NYT review isn't bad, actually. They even clearly point out the poor graphics, which Kotaku (meh, I find their reviews interesting) chose to gloss over.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
And for anyone as impressed by the story as I am (not perfect, but far, far better than I was expecting), I say again, for the love of God go for a second playthrough/new game+ at least once. I'm pretty confident you will be glad you did.
EDIT: And that NYT review isn't bad, actually. They even clearly point out the poor graphics, which Kotaku (meh, I find their reviews interesting) chose to gloss over.
I was quite impressed by that NYT review. Especially compared to this Joystiq fellow.
Also, "glad" is not the word I'd be using for going through NG+ for ending B. I'm only a few hours into the new playthrough and I'm enjoying it, but I'm just back at the Junk Heap and after seeing the new cutscenes...
I am a horrible horrible person. Retroactively horrible. God. It's going to be this depressing with everything else too, isn't it.
And for anyone as impressed by the story as I am (not perfect, but far, far better than I was expecting), I say again, for the love of God go for a second playthrough/new game+ at least once. I'm pretty confident you will be glad you did.
EDIT: And that NYT review isn't bad, actually. They even clearly point out the poor graphics, which Kotaku (meh, I find their reviews interesting) chose to gloss over.
I was quite impressed by that NYT review. Especially compared to this Joystiq fellow.
Also, "glad" is not the word I'd be using for going through NG+ for ending B. I'm only a few hours into the new playthrough and I'm enjoying it, but I'm just back at the Junk Heap and after seeing the new cutscenes...
I am a horrible horrible person. Retroactively horrible. God. It's going to be this depressing with everything else too, isn't it.
RE: The spoiler - yeah, pretty much.
Not sure if you've got to the 'boss' in the desert second time around, but that's what I'm talking about here. Shouldn't actually be spoiling anything for you.
The one with the wolves was the worst on a second playthrough - at first I thought it was a little trite, but in the end it hit me hardest. I thought the death scene the first time around was awful enough, with the expression on his face. I'd love to know if that was intentional or if I was reading too much into it, but I thought the shape of the leader's good eye just felt achingly tragic, the way a good artist can make a character's expression change completely just by altering a few lines. Then it played through again and I was practically in tears with the added dialogue. I know it's fairly cheap emotional manipulation on one level, but Christ, I don't see how you can not react. And there's definitely more to it than schmaltz; there's a new scene with one character later on that just tore me up inside - on the one hand you realise these people have done horrible things you want to see them suffer for, yet on the other, they're only human.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
This game looks neat but I'm not real keen on playing as Gary Busey. Am I pretty much out of luck if I'm in the US? It's been forever since I bought a videogame so I dunno how this stuff goes.
Only the Japanese get a choice of protagonist, and even then it's one per console. 360 owners get old man Nier over there, PS3 young boy... well, I don't even know if he has the same name. (Plus I'm not sure if the game ever actually calls him that, come to think of it. Unless you use that name for your profile.)
Old man Nier is a much better character than he is a design, though. I still cringe whenever I see his face, but he's written well enough I don't care that much.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Can someone tell me which ending in Drakengard is supposedly canon with Nier? I'm actually wanting to play Nier now, and as I just got the A ending in Drakengard I'm on my way to the others. What chapter is the ending that connects though? I'm just assuming chapter 9-12 or whatever are all different storylines and endings.
I like how that dude complains so bitterly about the game, when he doesn't really seem to play the game right. There are at least 3-4 quests prior to the fishing one, and for each of those quests, you follow the big red X on your mini map. So what does he do? Completely ignore it. He's complaining because he's playing the game wrong. That whole bit just made me roll my eyes.
Absolute journalistic brilliance.
MalReynolds on
"A new take on the epic fantasy genre... Darkly comic, relatable characters... twisted storyline."
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
Can someone tell me which ending in Drakengard is supposedly canon with Nier? I'm actually wanting to play Nier now, and as I just got the A ending in Drakengard I'm on my way to the others. What chapter is the ending that connects though? I'm just assuming chapter 9-12 or whatever are all different storylines and endings.
It's ending 5, which to unlock requires getting the first 4 endings, and collecting all the weapons. Unless you've been pretty diligent about getting weapons as you play through the earlier chapters it's several more hours of work even after seeing the rest of the plot. That said, if you've gotten the first ending there isn't too much work seeing endings 2-4 and if you don't want to spend the time unlocking it there's always Youtube for #5.
And the link really is tenuous. One obscure mention by a NPC halfway through the game and what is definitely just a 2-lines-of-text continuity gag during a later plot event is all I ever found. Just knowing what the Drakengard ending involved is all you really need to appreciate the connections.
You need all the weapons to see every ending in NieR, but thankfully it's a lot easier than Drakengard. There's no combing the map, and no working completely obtuse unlock conditions out or anything - they all come from quests, shops or pickups, and the pickups are all very easy to find. I only missed one - well, two, but the FAQ on GameFAQs didn't know there are two ways to gain one of them, so I missed the first way but got it through the second without even realising.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Thanks guys, I know the link is pretty small, but dammit I'm in Drakengard for the long haul now! I can't just quit. I wanted crazy plot and dammit I'm going to see it! I may start playing Nier while I do the weapon hunting though. I've got some, but I definitely will have to play maps again.
I bought this game absolutely not knowing what to expect, and I've gotta say, it's incredible. I just love unpredictable games.
Although I've kinda been blindsided by the point where you can't complete a whole bunch of sidequests. I did keep a save before said point, but I've still got a rather nasty problem. I didn't find anything about it (where are you, hordes of ASCII art brandishing GameFaqs teenagers?!), so maybe someone here can help me out...
There are two sidequests involved with the tavern in Seaport (at least up to the point I was before getting to the turning point): first, I was supposed to get a special drink here to make Popola and Devola sing together, second, I was supposed to fetch some ingredients for some special dish the bartender wants to make. I blindly accepted both quests because there didn't seem to be any disadvantages from not fulfilling them for a while... so I thought.
Turns out, when I later showed up with all ingredients ready to go, the bartender just gives me a confused "You've got my stuff? Which 'stuff'?" and I can't fulfill both of these quests. No drink, no dish, nothing.
So what did I do wrong? I'll just skip over all the sidequests from now on (if New Game+ is really as good as all think, I'll save my dark OCD cravings for then), but what should I do next time? Complete all quests immediately? Just avoid having those specific two quests active at the same time?
I doubt many people have run into the same problem, yet help would greatly be appreciated.
argh, went into the local gamestop to pay a bit on 3d dot heroes -- the one chick working there was curious about Nier when I bought it, so I told her I thought it was awesome and then basically had some unfamiliar douchebag dude coworker and random customer snickering about it. Really, customer? I don't give two shits if you read all the reviews online and used to work at Square Enix. Really, coworker? I don't care if you had a customer say it sucked. At least give me a god damned second to tell you what I enjoy about it before you two start circle jerking with yourselves about shit.
Their loss. 8-)
Kaseius on
www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
0
Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
Damn it. I'm really curios about this game, but I have two finals I should be studying for and I still have damn near the entirety of Resonance of Fate to play through...
Hmm, well it wouldn't hurt to trade in GoW3 and a few other titles just to make sure I have a copy of Nier....
I bought this game absolutely not knowing what to expect, and I've gotta say, it's incredible. I just love unpredictable games.
Although I've kinda been blindsided by the point where you can't complete a whole bunch of sidequests. I did keep a save before said point, but I've still got a rather nasty problem. I didn't find anything about it (where are you, hordes of ASCII art brandishing GameFaqs teenagers?!), so maybe someone here can help me out...
There are two sidequests involved with the tavern in Seaport (at least up to the point I was before getting to the turning point): first, I was supposed to get a special drink here to make Popola and Devola sing together, second, I was supposed to fetch some ingredients for some special dish the bartender wants to make. I blindly accepted both quests because there didn't seem to be any disadvantages from not fulfilling them for a while... so I thought.
Turns out, when I later showed up with all ingredients ready to go, the bartender just gives me a confused "You've got my stuff? Which 'stuff'?" and I can't fulfill both of these quests. No drink, no dish, nothing.
So what did I do wrong? I'll just skip over all the sidequests from now on (if New Game+ is really as good as all think, I'll save my dark OCD cravings for then), but what should I do next time? Complete all quests immediately? Just avoid having those specific two quests active at the same time?
I doubt many people have run into the same problem, yet help would greatly be appreciated.
My sidequests are long behind me now so this information may not be correct, depending on my memory. That said, I believe if that's the actual line the tavernkeeper is giving you then I think you actually have a third quest active which was from someone else, getting food for the tavernkeeper. Check your other active quests, see if there is someone else to talk to.
If that wasn't it, no idea I'm afraid. Also while trying to avoid spoilers here some of these quests may become incompletable, even on NG+, if you keep playing past them, so you may want to see if you can figure it out now.
I bought this game absolutely not knowing what to expect, and I've gotta say, it's incredible. I just love unpredictable games.
Although I've kinda been blindsided by the point where you can't complete a whole bunch of sidequests. I did keep a save before said point, but I've still got a rather nasty problem. I didn't find anything about it (where are you, hordes of ASCII art brandishing GameFaqs teenagers?!), so maybe someone here can help me out...
There are two sidequests involved with the tavern in Seaport (at least up to the point I was before getting to the turning point): first, I was supposed to get a special drink here to make Popola and Devola sing together, second, I was supposed to fetch some ingredients for some special dish the bartender wants to make. I blindly accepted both quests because there didn't seem to be any disadvantages from not fulfilling them for a while... so I thought.
Turns out, when I later showed up with all ingredients ready to go, the bartender just gives me a confused "You've got my stuff? Which 'stuff'?" and I can't fulfill both of these quests. No drink, no dish, nothing.
So what did I do wrong? I'll just skip over all the sidequests from now on (if New Game+ is really as good as all think, I'll save my dark OCD cravings for then), but what should I do next time? Complete all quests immediately? Just avoid having those specific two quests active at the same time?
I doubt many people have run into the same problem, yet help would greatly be appreciated.
My sidequests are long behind me now so this information may not be correct, depending on my memory. That said, I believe if that's the actual line the tavernkeeper is giving you then I think you actually have a third quest active which was from someone else, getting food for the tavernkeeper. Check your other active quests, see if there is someone else to talk to.
If that wasn't it, no idea I'm afraid. Also while trying to avoid spoilers here some of these quests may become incompletable, even on NG+, if you keep playing past them, so you may want to see if you can figure it out now.
Is it in the uncompleteable quest list now? If not then there must be some reason youre not seeing.
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
Yeah, I've had the odd minor bug or graphical glitch, but nothing on that level. Haven't seen anyone else talking about it on any other forum, either (though admittedly the game isn't getting that much attention :? ).
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Mostlyjoe13Evil, Evil, Jump for joy!Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
I'll have you all know...I picked this game up thanks to you. And, frankly I'm liking it a lot. Really well done. I can see how Cavia has grown as a studio.
Quick question: What's the deal with the boss shade near the south entrance to the town? I don't have to fight him, but he's there tempting me. I've tried fighting him, but he 1 hit/kills me all the time. The Boar was hard enough until I figured out how to use a bolder to fake him into ramming it. But this guy. Man. Pound and bullet spam. Ugh.
Posts
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Avoiding story spoilers here, there is a specific point in the plot which signifies a change from one part of the story to another; once this happens, any sidequests except I think the fishing ones you have will become uncompletable, and any sidequests which you had yet to flag are lost. So if you are a completionist type or want to take advantage of the cash rewards some of these sidequests give you, you'll want to get them done before reaching this point.
Still no story spoilers, just locations and people, but this is the spot:
That last bit is basically the cutoff. To be safe I'd recommend doing any sidequests left right after finishing the mansion and before talking to people, or even before going there.
Definitely the surprise of the year so far for me, but it's still a mess. And the second playthrough/ending wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be - didn't quite live up to what the start seemed to be hinting at.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
GOD
This is an excruciatingly poorly designed mini-game.
Ok.
First, there are different fish based on different places, even on the same map; for example, Seaport has 3 different areas with different fish: the dock next to the ships, the small beach next to the old man who gives you the quests, and the big beach near the lighthouse.
There is an invisible "skill" level to your fishing which determines how easy it is to catch fish. When you start, most fish are going to be beyond your reach: if you are trying to reel in a fish and it's hp bar barely moves and it randomly gets away that fish requires a higher skill.
So lets say you're after Shaman Fish for the very first quest. They are only found on the big beach in Seaport, so you go over there and fish using the lure. Despite what the game says you never really have to press a button, just use the control stick. Once the rod bends sharply you press the stick down, towards you. Anything the rod does which isn't the sharp bend is a fakeout.
Once the fish is on the line, just watch Nier's position. The game doesn't make this very clear: you're supposed to tilt the stick opposite where the fish is, but Nier will bend in the proper direction automatically. So if he bends to the left, you tilt the stick to the left. The biggest thing is to make the tilt very small; if you start by holding the stick down and Nier goes left then you move the stick a very small amount to the left (while keeping the stick mostly down) until the fish's HP bar starts flashing again; watching the HP bar is the best way to see if you have the stick in the right spot.
If you want to catch more varieties of fish you need to do the old man's quests. The biggest difficulty in the first few is knowing where to go. Here's a list of the first few:
Q2: 7 Blowfish, Seaport small beach, use Lugworms. Sardines/Bream show up here too.
Q3: 7 Rainbow Trout, Northern Plains river near the bridge leading to the Junk Heap, use the Lure.
Q4: 5 Bream, Seaport dock, use the Lure. There's also a crazy hard fish that's here, you can't catch it.
Q5: 5 Black Bass, Hometown, use the Lure.
Why do you want to do these quests? Because Bream and Black Bass sell for 750 and 1500 respectively, giving you a modest cash source which doesn't require selling off materials that you might end up needing later for forging or sidequests (sell anything else and it will probably come back to burn you, sometime, somewhere). I was you, I hated it when I started too, but once you get it down it becomes a lot more managable.
Psh. Gilder man I thought I loved you
And yeah the story is pretty damn whack. Like. Giant floating babies eating people whack. But dont worry. that doesnt spoil anything. Because it literally makes no sense. But seriously..
I know the graphics arnt great but I still love it. I just love games about A. Hunting down items and B. Constantly upgrading and seeing them get stronger and C. Cooler looking. Its just a game of so many treats with all the weapons.
Hmmm, slow EDIT (didn't read your question properly):
Despite everything I've said about the game, I did actually... well, like is not entirely the word I want, but I have listened to the soundtrack by itself for atmosphere more than once. It's certainly tough going though.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Having reached this point I can chime in:
On a different subject, a question of my own: has anyone found out where you can get Rusty Kitchen Knives for forging weapons? I went through an entire playthrough and didn't see a single one, anywhere.
Really enjoyable. I was expecting horrible based on a few things were ranting about (fishing? shaman fish took me about 2 minutes, and you can just buy it for the quest
I fully agree. I just got past the forest and damn was that funny and awesome at the same time. It was such a huh? Wait? What? Whats going on? Ooooooohhhh and then just laughs. I love it.
Also I have 51% complete for quests. I think thats it until the changing point. (which I dont know when it is but even so I assume thats a good number.)
But I can't afford my amp unless I wait for a price drop.
So, do the bullet patterns ramp up? I don't want to youtube anything because I like surprises, but I'm curious if they get difficult or not.
Edit: oh, hey, apparently people with taste really like this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/arts/television/04nier.html
Though I don't approve of referring to God of War as a "classic", or suggesting it operates on the same level that Resident Evil 4 does.
And for anyone as impressed by the story as I am (not perfect, but far, far better than I was expecting), I say again, for the love of God go for a second playthrough/new game+ at least once. I'm pretty confident you will be glad you did.
EDIT: And that NYT review isn't bad, actually. They even clearly point out the poor graphics, which Kotaku (meh, I find their reviews interesting) chose to gloss over.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/03/nier-review-fail/
I was quite impressed by that NYT review. Especially compared to this Joystiq fellow.
Also, "glad" is not the word I'd be using for going through NG+ for ending B. I'm only a few hours into the new playthrough and I'm enjoying it, but I'm just back at the Junk Heap and after seeing the new cutscenes...
RE: The spoiler - yeah, pretty much.
Not sure if you've got to the 'boss' in the desert second time around, but that's what I'm talking about here. Shouldn't actually be spoiling anything for you.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Old man Nier is a much better character than he is a design, though. I still cringe whenever I see his face, but he's written well enough I don't care that much.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
I like how that dude complains so bitterly about the game, when he doesn't really seem to play the game right. There are at least 3-4 quests prior to the fishing one, and for each of those quests, you follow the big red X on your mini map. So what does he do? Completely ignore it. He's complaining because he's playing the game wrong. That whole bit just made me roll my eyes.
Absolute journalistic brilliance.
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It's ending 5, which to unlock requires getting the first 4 endings, and collecting all the weapons. Unless you've been pretty diligent about getting weapons as you play through the earlier chapters it's several more hours of work even after seeing the rest of the plot. That said, if you've gotten the first ending there isn't too much work seeing endings 2-4 and if you don't want to spend the time unlocking it there's always Youtube for #5.
And the link really is tenuous. One obscure mention by a NPC halfway through the game and what is definitely just a 2-lines-of-text continuity gag during a later plot event is all I ever found. Just knowing what the Drakengard ending involved is all you really need to appreciate the connections.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Although I've kinda been blindsided by the point where you can't complete a whole bunch of sidequests. I did keep a save before said point, but I've still got a rather nasty problem. I didn't find anything about it (where are you, hordes of ASCII art brandishing GameFaqs teenagers?!), so maybe someone here can help me out...
Turns out, when I later showed up with all ingredients ready to go, the bartender just gives me a confused "You've got my stuff? Which 'stuff'?" and I can't fulfill both of these quests. No drink, no dish, nothing.
So what did I do wrong? I'll just skip over all the sidequests from now on (if New Game+ is really as good as all think, I'll save my dark OCD cravings for then), but what should I do next time? Complete all quests immediately? Just avoid having those specific two quests active at the same time?
I doubt many people have run into the same problem, yet help would greatly be appreciated.
Their loss. 8-)
Hmm, well it wouldn't hurt to trade in GoW3 and a few other titles just to make sure I have a copy of Nier....
My sidequests are long behind me now so this information may not be correct, depending on my memory. That said, I believe if that's the actual line the tavernkeeper is giving you then I think you actually have a third quest active which was from someone else, getting food for the tavernkeeper. Check your other active quests, see if there is someone else to talk to.
If that wasn't it, no idea I'm afraid. Also while trying to avoid spoilers here some of these quests may become incompletable, even on NG+, if you keep playing past them, so you may want to see if you can figure it out now.
Is it in the uncompleteable quest list now? If not then there must be some reason youre not seeing.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Quick question: What's the deal with the boss shade near the south entrance to the town? I don't have to fight him, but he's there tempting me. I've tried fighting him, but he 1 hit/kills me all the time. The Boar was hard enough until I figured out how to use a bolder to fake him into ramming it. But this guy. Man. Pound and bullet spam. Ugh.